Good SUNY FBS Win

[UB Bull from Albany]

Maybe because Florida is one of the best states for high school football talent, and New York State might be the worst?

[UAalum72]

Maybe because Florida is one of the best states for high school football talent, and New York State might be the worst?

New York's a long way from the worst for talent, but it's a lot easier to get out-of-staters to go to FL than to Buffalo.

[reeder]

About 2 years ago, there was an article in the NY Times about schools that had grand plans by going to D1 football. USF was the prime focus. Some of the points from the article:

1. A significant number of the kids had some sort of criminal record

2. A significant number had their own children and wife / girlfriend to take care of

3. Many had other challenges that prevented them from playing at one of the other schools in Florida - UF, Miami, FSU.

 

In a nutshell, the article said that USF took a lot of troubled kids to build a program. I don't know if any of that has changed. My point is that I wouldn'thold USF up as a role model.

 

Also, I think that there is talent in NY. The challenge is that football isn't as big as it is in the other parts of the country so the kids may not grow as much as they would in other parts of the country.

 

We live in metro Atlanta -my sons school is grade 7 thru 12. There are teams for 7th, 8th, 9th, JV and varsity. He is in the 7th grade and 62 of the 65 boys play football. They run the same basic plays as the varsity, workout in the same facilities as the varsity, the coaches were former varsity coaches. Every successful program has a similar set up. A couple of counties have middle school teams that comprise 7th and 8th grade instead of teams for each grade. Every metro Atlanta county has some sort of recreational football that usually starts at age 6 or 7 - these programs are supported by the local high schools (clinics, camps, tickets to games, same uniforms and nicknames...).

 

There are 3 kids from the school that are freshmen at Colgate. Two were all state and one was all County. These aren't kids that are great athletes - they're kids that have played football since they were 6 or 7.

 

This isn't to say that the talent in Georgia or elsewhere is necessarily better than NY, but I think that the kids have a lot more exposure and experience by the time they are in HS.

 

Last point on this, i think that it's pretty much the case in the southeast that the best athletes at age 9 or 10 aren't playing baseball or soccer - I think they are playing football.

 

All of this said, I haven't lived in the Northeast in a long time so things may be the same but my sense is that it's not the same culturally relative to football as it is in the southeast. I have friends in Florida and SC and it is the same there.

[UB Bull from Albany]

Thats what I'm saying. Football players are basically bred at an earlier age in the south. There is some much tradition and prestige in states such as Florida, Georgia, Texas, etc that kids are basically expected to try football. Many of them stick. That is not the case in New York State. There is talent, but just not enough.

[ATL_DANE]

I live in the south and I agree football is HUGE; however, to say that's why USF can go FBS in a big way in 10 years and it will seemly take UB or UA decades doesn't make sense to me. That is to say IF UA or UB will ever make the jump. It's not just because there are more kids playing football. Ever hear of recruiting?

 

BC is located in Mass, which is not known for high school or college football... yet, BC is very successful. It's a great ACC team. Everyone says western New York is more mid western than New England... Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin are also HUGE, why isn't UB? I agree, there is something different... it's not the local kids.

 

I think it's the state's dedication to their state school flagships. In a word... money $$$. MI, OH, FL, CA has money for the state school, NY does not.

[Dane96]

I live in the south and I agree football is HUGE; however, to say that's why USF can go FBS in a big way in 10 years and it will seemly take UB or UA decades doesn't make sense to me. That is to say IF UA or UB will ever make the jump. It's not just because there are more kids playing football. Ever hear of recruiting?

 

BC is located in Mass, which is not known for high school or college football... yet, BC is very successful. It's a great ACC team. Everyone says western New York is more mid western than New England... Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin are also HUGE, why isn't UB? I agree, there is something different... it's not the local kids.

 

I think it's the state's dedication to their state school flagships. In a word... money $$$. MI, OH, FL, CA has money for the state school, NY does not.

 

 

Ummm...way off base. Mass IS a hotbed for football recruits in the Northeast. BC has, until the ACC jump, been primarily a MASS/NJ based program. Syracuse of the past-- Lots of Mass kids. Maryland...the same. I had been (up until last year) a long time BC season ticket holder..and we used to comment on the MA based roster.

 

I agree with most of the post, except for the above.

[UB Bull from Albany]

Turner Gill has implimented a recruiting strategy. First, he has a 200 mile radius around Buffalo. He wants to get the best players out of this area, make sure they stay close to home and go to UB. Second, he wants to start recruiting from hotbeds, like Texas and Florida. The freshman class this year includes 4 kids from the talent-rich state of Texas. UB still might be in the dumps, but they are getting talent now. Gill is bringing in a lot better talent compared to before.

[UAalum72]

For the UNY people, I saw on AGS that apparently the University of Louisiana - Lafayette is trying to set themselves above their peers by calling themselves Louisiana University, much to the annoyance of the fans of La- Monroe, McNeese St., and La. Tech. Maybe they got tired of being called UL Laf, or ULaLa (pronounced you'll laugh and Ooo-lah-lah)

[ATL_DANE]

For the UNY people, I saw on AGS that apparently the University of Louisiana - Lafayette is trying to set themselves above their peers by calling themselves Louisiana University, much to the annoyance of the fans of La- Monroe, McNeese St., and La. Tech. Maybe they got tired of being called UL Laf, or ULaLa (pronounced you'll laugh and Ooo-lah-lah)

 

I saw those posts myself. Great for "ULaLA" if they can snag "Louisiana". A solid name choice can drive sales, marketing and pride. Sounds superficial but believe me it does help. "Save the jungle" doesn't carry the same ring as "save the rainforest". My marketing professor Dr. Danko at Ooobaly used to say "Marketing is everything and everything is marketing".

 

I'll buy the first 100 'UNY' shirts myself and parade through Atlanta... hell, I'll take directional if I have to.

[ATL_DANE]

SUNY Buffalo had a good showing today. Scoring 24 points against Penn State isn't bad. No one expected them to win today. I think they're showing good progress. SUNY Buffalo success in FBS is good for Albany. It will quiet the nay sayers and facilitate our advancement.

 

Good showing for SUNY football!!!